Tell me about him
by Pooky1234
Summary: Set after ep3 of Miracle Day. Esther is curious about Jack's past.


**This is set after ep3 of Miracle Day. I like the growing relationship between Jack and Esther. She asks him a question.**

**Tell me about him**

'Just us I guess then,' Esther said looking at Jack and handing him a coffee.

'Yeah, just us,' Jack replied absentmindedly while looking at the monitor in front of him. Gwen had taken a laptop into another room and was talking to Rhys. Rex had gone off to meet his doctor.

'So I was talking to Gwen when you went off to that bar. She told me a bit about I-anto but she said I should ask you and I heard her mention his name when she was talking to you. You were together, yeah, weren't you?' She watched the flash of pain move across Jack's features.

'Sorry, you don't have to, but we're here and I thought you might like to talk. My Mum always said it was good to talk so I wondered and I was curious, Jack. You say so many things that I don't understand about living for so many years. I don't get how yet but I know there was information in your file going back years.' She stopped again for a moment. Jack intrigued her; he seemed to flirt with everyone and it amused her every time he poked fun at Rex. As much as she, what – liked – Rex he could be a bit of a dinosaur. 'It's okay I'll shut up and continue looking at these sites about morphic fields. Just ignore me, sorry. Just imagine I never mentioned it.'

Jack took a deep breath and turned to look at her. 'His name was Ianto Jones. You pronounce it with a Y at the beginning. He died two years ago; he was killed by the 456 and I loved him,' Jack said quietly.

'We're you together for long, you and him?'

'Not long enough and we were pretty stupid about things to begin with. Esther, you understand that I was immortal, don't you?' She nodded. 'It doesn't really matter how for now, but being immortal makes loving someone, how shall I say it, problematic.'

'I guess that they have a tendency to die before you do but Jack you must have loved some people over the years,' Esther asked. 'It can't have been a life of endless one night stands.'

'No, I've been married and I've got a daughter, Alice but that's another story. There are different sorts of love, Esther. I think I can honestly say that I've only ever loved two people in my life and one of them was Ianto. I didn't want to but he got under my defences. I don't think he ever meant to.' Jack sighed for a moment. 'This helped as well. He made the most amazing coffee. He could work out anyone's preferences like magic. I liked mine strong and dark!'

'You'd better not tell Rex that,' Esther replied laughing. 'He might get the wrong idea! So how did you two meet then?'

'I met him at a candy store – no.' He smiled at the memory of their meeting in Bute Park; Ianto in those tight blue jeans hitting the weevil with a branch. Jack had wanted to get him out of them as soon as he'd met him. 'The truth is that he stalked me. He'd worked at Torchwood 1 in London when it was attacked by the Cybermen.'

'I remember them; I was a teenager at the time.'

'He followed me around for a while, wanting a job at Torchwood 3, until he produced his master card – a live Pteranodon!'

'A what? That's a flying dinosaur isn't it?' Esther asked incredulously.

'Yep. We caught it together and I offered him a job. He did look incredibly good in a suit and he admired the coat. There was something between us right form the beginning. We called her Myfanwy.'

'Her?'

'The Pteranodon; I always hoped she got out when they blew up the Hub,' Jack said.

'So Ianto came to work with you. What did he look like?'

Jack reached into his coat and pulled out his wallet. Opening it he found what he was looking for tucked away and somewhat battered, the only photo he'd kept of Ianto. He looked at that face smiling back at him dressed in one of his trade mark suits; it was the Armani Ianto had bought especially for their first date. Jack had taken the photo in the hotel they'd stayed in. Not long after that the suit ended up scattered around the room, along with his own clothes. Jack smiled at the memory of how many times they'd made love that night. For the first time it had been more than sex for both of them; that night had changed things. The year that never was had made Jack realise so many things and one of them was how much he'd missed Ianto and how much he wanted him in his life. He handed the photo to Esther.

'Wow, he looked good in a suit,' she said.

'I always thought so.' He winked at her. 'He looked pretty spectacular out of it as well.' Esther blushed.

'So did you get together immediately?' she asked. Her mind had already wandered to picturing them together. She shivered slightly.

'Are you cold?' Jack asked concerned.

'No just thinking.'

'Thinking about him had that effect on me too.' He was silent for a moment. 'When Ianto came to work at Cardiff he had his own agenda. None of us knew but his girlfriend Lisa had been partly converted by the Cybermen and he'd hidden her in the basement. She got lose and killed people and we had to kill her. Ianto had flirted with me from the start to keep me off guard and he did a damn good job. The number of times he bent over in front of me wearing tight trousers. He made me think I had a chance with him and he played me like a virtuoso plays his instrument. Getting him in my bed became an obsession.'

'You killed his girlfriend but still ended up together. That seems kinda unlikely. And he wasn't gay?' Now she was confused.

'Nothing was ever simple between us. He hated me for a while and I didn't trust him but things changed and neither of us could deny the attraction that existed between us. There was just this indefinable something; sometimes all it took was a look and I was sending the others home or we'd disappear into the archives desperate for each other. On the outside he was so controlled. Every move was measured and there was rarely a hair out of place but underneath there beat the heart of a Welsh dragon filled with fire. God, we were so good together. The things he could do with his tongue!' He heard Esther cough.

'Sorry, getting carried away. You see we had no lives outside Torchwood and that sort of meant we spent too much time together. I'm not sure who broke down whose defences, and no he wasn't gay, but then neither am I. We just found each other and it was good. Then we lost Tosh and Owen and that left just the three of us. In the end we never had enough time together. Both of us were stupid and wasted so much time. We should have had more but the 456 ended that. He died in my arms; I couldn't save him, Esther. It was all so pointless his death. He was so brave, did I mention that? He forgave me so many times and was always there when I came back. You should stay away from me, Esther Drummond; people around me tend to end up being brave, saving the world and sacrificing themselves. It was all my fault you see, his death, all their deaths and I miss him; I miss him so much.'

Tears began to flow down Jack's face as Esther wrapped her arms around him and just held him close. She looked at the photo left on the table top. '_You must really have been something special, Ianto Jones. I wish I'd known you but if you're anywhere out there listening I know he loved you very much and I think, if I'm any judge of people, that means you were a very lucky man as well_.'


End file.
